1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a winder for winding of elastomeric fibers into packages and, more specifically, to a winder of particular geometries in which the fiber passes through a substantially constant distance between two rolls before it is wound onto the package.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,165,274 and World Patent Application WO99/18024 disclose winders for elastomeric fibers, but winding such fibers at high speeds with such winders can result in high package relaxation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,019 discloses an apparatus for backwinding an elastomeric fiber from a previously wound package onto a spool, but such an apparatus is not suited for high-speed, traversed winding of packages.
Japanese Patent JP02-628969-B2 discloses a winder having a withdrawal roller and a drive roller, in which fiber relaxation occurs on the package during winding. After the withdrawal roller, the fibers are passed through a twill braiding machine and then wound onto a bobbin by overfeeding to the bobbin, using a drive roller, at a speed more than 1.1 times the winding speed. The withdrawal roller speed is greater than or equal to the winding speed. The geometry of this winder is such that as the wound fiber package grows, the length of the filament between the withdrawal roller and the package decreases, resulting in an increasing laydown width and helix angle during winding and, in turn, poor package shape. Further, to prevent the growing package from touching the withdrawal roller, the length of filament between the withdrawal roller and the package must initially be large, making retention of a useful traverse pattern very difficult, a deficiency also created by the large distance of the traverse from the withdrawal roller. Similar considerations make the winder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,607, which requires extremely precise coordination of two traverse devices, and the complex winder of European Patent Application EP0927694 unsatisfactory.
Improved winders for elastomeric fibers are still needed.
The winder of the present invention for winding at least one elastomeric fiber at the exit of a spinning apparatus comprises:
(A) a traverse means for reciprocating the fiber;
(B) a driven puller roll for receiving the reciprocating fiber from the traverse means;
(C) a contact roll for receiving the fibers from the puller roll, the contact roll having a wrap angle of about 45-210xc2x0; wherein there is a substantially constant free fiber length between the puller roll and the contact roll for fiber passage; and
(D) at least one chuck assembly for mounting a tubecore in contact with the contact roll.